A few weeks ago my compressor quit running and it was found to have a fried capacitor. After that was replaced it was running fine until a few days ago when the compressor circuit breaker started tripping. I reset the breaker and it will run anywhere from 6 to 24 hours before I notice the breaker has tripped again. I was told that the compressor is bad and needs to be replaced. I have a 5 ton Carrier unit and was told the compressor alone would be about $900 to replace, or the whole unit for about $3200. The unit is only a little over 4 years old.

My question is, will a bad compressor trip the breaker? do the costs sound reasonable? and would I be better off with a new system, which comes with a 5 year warranty vs. my old system with its 1 year warranty.
Thanks

Pete H

08-25-2006 09:13 PM

I would get a second opinion. The question is how many amps is the
comp. pulling and whats it rated for? Alot of things can cause the
breaker to trip including loose connections and a bad breaker.
Did the tech measure amps on comp and it exceeded breaker amperage? IF it is a bad comp. I would repl it for $900. But get
a good contractor. I would not repl. entire unit for $3200

oddjob

08-26-2006 12:12 AM

Being a Carrier unit, if it's a scroll compressor I think they carry a 10 year warranty. Check with your installer to be sure.:)

joejean

08-28-2006 01:15 PM

I found out the compressor has an extended warranty for 4 years, so I would be covered, however, I'm told that the $900 was just the labor for installing it. Could it cost that much to replace?
Thanks